Do you know what Allo-search.com is?
If you find Allo-search.com in your browsers, you are either located in India, or you happen to have downloaded a freeware bundle that contained an application by the Morocco-based French software developer company, Development Media 73, or both. Our researchers have noticed that this search engine mainly targets Indian computers, which is quite obvious from the labels used for the search box and the search button as well. But this fact should not mislead you because it is possible to download software packages that may include applications that promote this search engine no matter where you are on the globe. Due to its capability to modify browser settings, our researchers have classified it as a browser hijacker. It is also possible that you do not even remember allowing these changes and you are surprised to notice Allo-search.com in your browsers when you launch them. Since you may be introduced to potentially harmful third-party websites, we advise you to remove Allo-search.com before you find yourself on a malicious website. Please read on to find out how you can protect your computer from similar attacks and what kind of risks you may be facing by having this infection on board.
Once this hijacker sneaks onto your computer, it changes the home page and default search engine settings to Allo-search.com. That is why the next time you open your browser, you will find it there. The problem is that from then on you will be constantly exposed to this page and if you choose to do a web search, you could be presented with manipulated results. This means that his hijacker may alter the alleged Google custom search results by including promoted websites or third-party ads. It is always an issue to trust anything that comes from third parties. The reason is that malware infections, such as this, do not have reviewed or controlled third party affiliates, i.e., even schemers and criminals can pose as third parties. Clicking on their ads or links may result in a redirection to unreliable websites. This can be a rather unfortunate visit because you may infect your computer more malware programs or be scammed by criminals to share your personal details, which may be misused to commit a fraud. This is certainly an important reason for you to delete Allo-search.com from your computer.
Allo-search.com screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
This browser hijacker might also be found in freeware bundles packed with other malicious software installers. Imagine installing such a load onto your computer. Do you think that Allo-search.com would be the only threat to your operating system? Certainly not. These bundles can contain virtually any infection, but most commonly you can find adware applications, browser hijackers, and potentially unwanted programs packed together. It is also possible to see more dangerous threats, such as Trojans and Ransomware bundled with innocent free software.
You may think that the only way to infect your machine is to click on unreliable third-party banner or pop-up ads while visiting shady websites, such as torrent or shareware sites. But the truth is that you can be in trouble just by landing on certain malicious pages. Before you could close the tab or say “What the…?!,” your computer may have already got infected. This is what may happen when the page runs malicious code in the background, and you will never even notice it until the malware strikes. Removing Allo-search.com can help you avoid such situations. Although you will still need to be careful what sites you visit and where you click.
After we have presented to you the possible risks and reasons for you to eliminate this malware threat, let us share with you how you can make this potential danger source disappear. As always, you can choose between manual or automated options. If you go for manual, you have two options again. The easier one, which can be performed by even an inexperienced computer user, is resetting your browsers. By this, you will change all the settings back to their default state. Please follow our instructions below if you are unfamiliar with browser settings.
A more advanced manual removal can be done by more experienced users. The following steps are different for each browser, so it is important that you carefully follow them step by step not to leave any leftovers on your system.
Mozilla Firefox: Launch the Windows File Explorer by tapping Win+E. Find the “C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{randomletters}.default” folder. Remove the file prefs.js or overwrite all Allo-search.com instances with a URL of your choice. Next, find the “C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{randomletters}.default\searchplugins” folder and remove the file allo-search.xml.
Google Chrome: Launch the Windows File Explorer by tapping Win+E. Find the “C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default” folder. Remove the files Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data, or overwrite all Allo-search.com occurrences in these files with a URL of your choice.
Internet Explorer: Open up the Run dialogue box by tapping Win+R. Type in “regedit” and click OK. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main key in the Windows Registry editor. Right-click Start Page and select Modify. Delete and overwrite the value to a URL of your choice.
As we have mentioned, you always have a choice to go for an automated solution. This means the use of a malware removal application, such as SpyHunter, which we have tested and we trust. You need to be careful when choosing your security tool to download because you can find a great number of unreliable or downright fake software on the web nowadays. Therefore, it is important to perform a web search before you decide to download and install the application that is going to provide full-time protection for your computer.
Allo-search.com Removal from browsers
Google Chrome
- Tap Alt+F and select Settings.
- Scroll down and click Show advanced settings.
- Scroll down and click Reset settings.
- Click Reset in the pop-up.
Mozilla Firefox
- Tap Alt+H and choose Troubleshooting Information.
- Click Refresh Firefox and in the confirmation window, click Refresh Firefox again.
- Click Finish.
Internet Explorer
- Tap Alt+T and open Internet Options.
- On the Advanced tab, click Reset.
- Select Delete personal settings and click Reset.
- Click Close.
In non-techie terms:
Allo-search.com is a questionable search engine that targets Indian computers. Since it spreads with and is promoted by software developed by a French company, it has been labeled as a browser hijacker. You should not trust this tool because its search results may be modified even if it appears to use Google custom search. Clicking on unreliable links or ads might lead you to malicious websites. This hijacker might also enter your computer in freeware bundles, which means that this infection may not be the only threat on board. Therefore, we recommend that you remove Allo-search.com along with all other malware threats in order to restore system security on your PC.